NJ Comptroller Asked If It's Auditing Or Investigating Vendor

By George Woolston

A New Jersey appeals court on Thursday questioned whether the state comptroller's office exceeded its authority when it subpoenaed a private company that provides services to charter schools, asking whether the agency was conducting an audit of or an investigation into the company.

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Ex-TD Bank Worker Admits Role In $3M Customer Fraud Scam

By Dorothy Atkins

A former TD Bank NA financial service representative entered a plea deal in New Jersey federal court Wednesday, admitting to defrauding bank customers and bribing an employee at another financial institution to falsify bank records to facilitate a $3.4 million fraud scheme.

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NJ Prep School Defeats Clergy Accuser's Sanctions Request

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey state judge denied a motion to sanction the Catholic order behind an elite prep school over claims it concealed investigative reports during years of clergy sex abuse litigation, ruling that the request from a former student was improper because a final judgment had already been entered.

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Curaleaf Can't Block NJ Pot Law's Labor Deal Requirement

By Mike Curley

A New Jersey federal judge won't allow Curaleaf to block enforcement of a provision of the state's cannabis law requiring labor peace agreements between cannabis operators and their employers, saying the company's slow movement doomed its motion.

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NJ Firm Can't Sue Ariz. Atty For Defending Client, Court Told

By Emily Sawicki

An Arizona attorney and his law firm want out of conspiracy claims brought by a New Jersey lawyer and his firm in federal court related to an underlying contract suit in a tangled web of litigation, arguing the claims are an attempt to transform routine litigation strategy into actionable torts and that the Garden State court lacks jurisdiction.

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High Court Says First Step Act Can't Inform Early Releases

By Matthew Santoni

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that changes in mandatory minimum sentences cannot be considered retroactively when weighing if a federal prisoner should be granted early release.

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ITC Investigating Welch's Rival's Fruit Snack Imports

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission opened an investigation into claims by the manufacturer of Welch's Fruit Snacks that a rival company, Cibo Vita, is importing patent-infringing yogurt-covered snacks into the U.S.

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Hospital Network Left Bonuses Out Of OT Pay, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

A dietary worker at a Pennsylvania hospital network accused her employer of shortchanging overtime pay by leaving bonuses out of the calculation, according to a proposed collective action filed in federal court.

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Freight Brokers, Uber Lose Key Cases

By Y. Peter Kang

The U.S. Supreme Court's green light of negligent hiring claims against freight brokers in highway crash cases and an adverse verdict against Uber in the sexual assault multidistrict litigation lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

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FERC Order May Alter PJM's Framework, Spur $1B In Refunds

A recent order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission stands to reform how grid operator PJM Interconnection assigns transmission upgrade costs, with potentially sweeping implications for transmission owners, merchant transmission facilities and load-serving entities, including an estimated $1 billion in refunds and surcharges, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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Series

Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

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Florida High Court Adopts AI Policy For Lawyers

By Madison Arnold

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday amended the state's rules to require those filing court documents to check any artificial intelligence-generated content for accuracy, and allow for sanctions if the content contains errors.

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Goldstein Says Bad Jury Instructions Warrant New Trial

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein said that the prosecutors who convicted him on 12 tax and mortgage fraud charges in February are now contradicting arguments they made at the end of his trial in their attempt to deny him a bench acquittal or new trial.

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King & Spalding Blocked From Exiting $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Brian Steele

King & Spalding LLP and Lennon Murphy & Phillips LLC can't withdraw from representing clients in consolidated litigation over an alleged $300 million stock swindle, a Connecticut state court judge has ruled, saying the firms' motions ahead of a June trial lack good cause.

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Fla. Court Refers Atty To Bar Over Bogus Case Citations

By Madison Arnold

A Florida state appeals court has referred an appellant's attorney to the state's bar for disciplinary proceedings after filing a petition that appears to be generated by artificial intelligence and "raises frivolous arguments, misstates the law, and cites non-existent case law."

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Parents Demand 'Bad Faith' Sanctions In Camp Mystic Case

By Lynn LaRowe

Camp Mystic in Texas' Hill Country should be sanctioned over "bad faith" conduct in litigation over flooding deaths last summer, including purported misrepresentations to courts and regulators and an alleged remark by one of its attorneys to a plaintiffs' lawyer that he would "burn in hell," a state court has been told.

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Trump Considers Tech Entrepreneur For DOJ Grants Post

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump appears poised to nominate a real estate attorney turned tech entrepreneur for a top U.S. Department of Justice post that oversees grants and criminal justice programs.

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Dem Sens. Ask DOJ To Preserve Trump-IRS Settlement Docs

By Jack McLoone

Two Democratic Senate leaders asked the U.S. Department of Justice to preserve any records related to the settlement of President Donald Trump's suit against the IRS in a letter published Thursday, signaling that further investigations may be coming.

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Ex-Fla. Chief Justice Fred Lewis Dies At 78

By Carolina Bolado

Former Florida Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis, who spent two decades on the bench of the Florida Supreme Court, has died at 78, the court announced Thursday.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Gupta Wessler's Deepak Gupta

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

In the decade and a half since starting his own firm, Deepak Gupta has argued seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, has won matters in state high courts from coast to coast, and has become a mainstay in federal appellate courts while building his plaintiff-side litigation boutique into a sought-after juggernaut.

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